Marburg will improve fish habitats

Outdoors column

The aquatic life in the waters of Lake Marburg in Codorus State Park, particularly the fish, will soon be seeing some habitat improvements.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, with help from the volunteer members of the Lake Marburg Advisory Committee, will launch their 2013 habitat project on May 16 and 17.

Benjamin Page, the lake division chief of the PFBC's Division of Habitat Management, explained the project to anglers and the public at a local fishing expo in February.

Page said that while Marburg is called a "lake," it is actually a reservoir. To build the body of water, land was cleared - graded of nearly all tree stumps and brush - to form the impoundment. As the reservoir aged the remaining native stump fields eroded away by wind, maintenance or drawdowns. Marburg's construction started in the late 1960s under the state's Project 70 campaign.

Page said Marburg was placed at the top of his department's priority list to build and submerge structures that will provide areas allowing fish to spawn, forage and find refuge.

Work will start with the construction of one-ton rock humps just outside the Hoff Road Cove. The state will provide a rock-dumping barge to move the poles of size R-4 rock to the site. Crevices and openings between these rocks will provide cover for fingerling fish of all species including crayfish, bass and pan fish.

Next will be the construction and installation of 24 structures called "porcupine cribs.

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" The structures are made from 2-inch by 2-inch strips of hemlock or yellow popular, and are about 4-foot square when finished. They are designed to mimic a habitat similar to tree stumps. In many Pennsylvania reservoirs, these cribs are the only woody cover in the impoundment, Page said.

Sometimes brush and conifers are added to enhance the structures. The cribs will be weighed down by concrete blocks.

The cribs will be sunk methodically in the vicinity of Round Island. The site is first surveyed by GPS, then cribs are typically placed in a five-point star fashion with an open space in the center.

A SICK BAY: This week, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation released a report citing a link between smallmouth bass mortality and disease and the need to reduce water pollution in Chesapeake Bay tributaries.

The CBF said, "Over the last decade, one of the most prized freshwater sport-fish species-smallmouth bass-has suffered fish kills and perplexing illnesses in several Bay tributaries. These tributary rivers include the South Branch of the Potomac River in West Virginia, the Shenandoah and Cowpasture Rivers in Virginia, the Monocacy River in Maryland, and the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. In the Susquehanna River, smallmouth bass populations have plummeted, with catch rates of adults falling 80 percent between 2001 and 2005 in some areas. According to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, the population has not recovered.

"Smallmouth bass do not tolerate pollution well. Thus, they are an indicator of water quality. While the specific causes of the deaths and illnesses among smallmouth bass remain unclear, leading fisheries biologists studying the problem believe that a "perfect storm" of contributing factors has overwhelmed a sensitive species."

The report concludes that:

Fishing for smallmouth is responsible for $630 million in sales in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia."

Phosphorus and nitrogen pollution levels are high in many of the river segments where fish have died or become sick.

Scientists believe that nitrogen and phosphorus pollution may be contributing to fish deaths and disease in two ways. The first is by spurring the growth of parasites (myxozoans and trematoads) and their hosts (worms and snails). The second is by feeding algal blooms that raise pH levels and lower oxygen concentrations, stressing young smallmouth bass.

A type of parasite (Myxobolus inornatus) has been found in juvenile smallmouth bass that have been dying in the Susquehanna River. This parasite is similar to one that causes a deadly disease in trout. The parasite's possible host (a bottom-dwelling worm) may be encouraged by nitrogen and phosphorus pollution.

In summary, the CBF says, "the problems of smallmouth bass should matter to everyone. Not only are 'smallies' a financially valuable sport fish, but they are also an indicator species sensitive to pollution. Other fish and animals could also be suffering similar die-offs and illnesses, but we would not necessarily be aware, because an outdoor culture and industry has not been built around them. So we should listen to what bass are telling us about our ecosystem."

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